Clare Boyd-Macrae on Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth

Over at Art/s and Theology Australia, the wonderful Clare Boyd-Macrae has shared a reflection on Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth. Here’s a snippet:

They poured out their very souls in these letters, in a way that I suspect contemporary lovers rarely do with their instant messaging and their moving in together five minutes after they ‘hook up’. The sheer longing for each other in these epistles is a world away from the instant gratification we have come to expect in everything, including sex. I’m not wishing myself back there exactly – I do wonder how marriages panned out when these heightened times were over and a couple had to settle down to jobs and housework and the daily irritations that are a part of a long love. But the contrast with current practices is staggering.

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One thought on “Clare Boyd-Macrae on Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth ”

I find this comforting. Though instant gratification is great and fuels all of our lives, it’s unknowing nice to be absent from the quick rewards. I give into this modern fate now, but when I step away it helps me find rewards in things that would usually bore me and become overlooked. I’m glad people can find joy in the things that would bring it, the things we miss when we are obsessed with only what is in front of us. Thank you for this read.